The Bureau of Immigration said that only .06% of departing passengers are offloaded from their flights over possible involvement in human trafficking or illegal recruitment scheme.
Immigration spokesperson Dana Sandoval said that immigration personnel are equipped to screen passengers and look for any hints on possible human trafficking incident.
“If you are a tourist who is not hiding anything, you do not have to worry about anything,” Sandoval said in a briefing.
“There is a misconception that all departing passengers undergo secondary inspection. Hindi po ganun; 06% lang po ng total departing passengers ang nao-offload, at ito po iyong mga tinatarget na biktima ng human trafficking as well as iyong mga umaalis na ang mga dokumento ay hindi tugma ang actual purpose of travel,” Sandoval added.
Sandoval said that they have been recording incidents of human trafficking on a daily basis.
“Dahil ito pong nakikitang incidents of human trafficking, we see it on a daily basis. It is not an isolated incident. We see it everyday and it is alarming that people fall into these call center scams only to end up being physically hurt or sexually abused,” Sandoval added.
Sandoval said that their team have already finished training on how to handle passengers better.
“Just last Friday, we finished our training focusing on case handling and proper communication with passengers so they can properly explain the situation to the people involved, and what are the next steps to take. We see this as a very important aspect in properly handling the concerns raised,” Sandoval said.
